[Diabetes] General Chat and Support Thread

eilo1 · 23-06-2011 10:22pm

CramCycle wrote: »

^^^ any ideas what happened, double dosing on the long term?

Sounds like it to me, other than that could you have been hungover, or are you doing lots of exercise at the min and becoming more insulin sensitive??

mike65 · 23-06-2011 11:03pm

Sounds like it could be, I double dosed once back in the day when I was on Monotard, I woke on a low obviously confused went down to breakfast and my next memory was coming round in hospital!

The best solution to low sugar isn't glucose tablets in my experience, its proper food. BlackEdelweiss made it sound like he had no breakfast and a bun for lunch is not a lunch.

eilo1 · 23-06-2011 11:32pm

mike65 wrote: »

Sounds like it could be, I double dosed once back in the day when I was on Monotard, I woke on a low obviously confused went down to breakfast and my next memory was coming round in hospital!

The best solution to low sugar isn't glucose tablets in my experience, its proper food. BlackEdelweiss made it sound like he had no breakfast and a bun for lunch is not a lunch.

I normally need 4-6 tablets to bring me around I dont find 2 very helpful. On a related note those little boxes of orange juice that kids use for lunches are a perfect dose for me. :P

MUSEIST · 23-06-2011 11:35pm

I always found those glucose tablets pretty useless. I was told to take 3 when low, bollix, I needed most of the packet to have any affect.

CramCycle · 23-06-2011 11:48pm

eilo1 wrote: »

Sounds like it to me, other than that could you have been hungover, or are you doing lots of exercise at the min and becoming more insulin sensitive??

Its either one or the other for me on a daily basis :P

MUSEIST wrote: »

I always found those glucose tablets pretty useless. I was told to take 3 when low, bollix, I needed most of the packet to have any affect.

Same here, minimum of a packet on a serious LO

Hal Emmerich · 28-06-2011 5:10pm

Artificial Pancreas anyone?

5live · 29-06-2011 10:23pm

A quick question for those with pumps. Can you play contact sports with a pump or is there a risk of the needles/tubes being pulled out

robinph · 29-06-2011 11:03pm

Was just about to report on my incident with the pump last night on the pump thread, but seeing as you asked here will do.

I don't do contact sports, but last night was doing a 5km race. It's usually 80 ish people along a narrow'ish path with no problem. Because of a special event for the race last night there was over 200 of us running. Resulted in a lot of congestion at the start and me getting tripped up by someone clipping my ankle after only about 150meters into the race. I went flying, and rolled over on the tarmac a couple of times, then had to assume the position like you see jockeys do when they come off in hurdle events as 200 pairs of legs then tried to get past me on the about 1.5 m wide path.

Result was me with bad grazes on knee, elbow and shoulder along with various other bits of bruising. Then having to do a walk of shame back to the start with the crowd there watching me.

The pump has taken a few scrapes and the screen cover has a couple of knicks in it now, but it all works perfectly fine. The pump was on my opposite hip from the one that took the main impact but it survived the impacts it took when I rolled perfectly fine apart from cosmetic damage.

I suspect that I would have come off far worse if I'd landed on the side I was wearing it on, but that the pump itself would have been fine.

Running isn't really contact sport usually though, but I would be cautious around the start of races of peoples stray arms getting caught in the cable. For full contact sport you'd probably have to remove it for the duration. Although soccer could probably be suitably taped out of the way, rugby probably not.

NHL Ice Hockey is fine though as shown by Toby Petersen, he does wear a load of pads over the top though.

eilo1 · 29-06-2011 11:27pm

The closest to contact sport I play at the minute is tag rugby and this has got me thinking that I would like to try ladies rugby. If any pumpers out there have played I would love to know how they coped.

At the min I was just thinking of disconnecting the pump, after a one unit bolus per half.
But I have no idea if this would work.

5live · 04-07-2011 3:14pm

I had a really bad hypo on saturday night. I was up early, around 6, to milk before silage cutting and had to separate cattle that mixed the night before and then one tractor had a puncture and the other wouldnt start so had to walk for the cattle (and 2 bulls too:() so i was fairly stressed before 7. I spent the day running to sort out the usual small problems before covering the silage pit with tires and then milking. My bloods were around 6 all day when i checked and finally ate a bite at 10.30 with bloods at 7.

Had a glass of wine with the OH and did my night shots at 11 with blood at 6.5.

I woke up on the couch at 6.45 and i was in bits. Pain all over and bloods at 2.3. Ate breakfast and ate a bar of choc before going milking as i was still feeling low even after halving my novorapid to 6. So i came back in to ,as they say in the films, picture but no sound. I was trying to figure out what i had done but nothing came to mind.

Turned out that i had gone to put the dogs in their house and gone to check the silage pit. When i hadnt come in after an hour, my OH went looking for me and there i was on the silage pit in the dark with only a hand torch moving car tires and generally doing what i should have done the following morning but at 12.30 at night. It took an hour to convince me to stop and go home and eat a bite. She also locked the doors and got up at 6 to check i was still asleep and put the keys back.

Today i feel like crap but bloody frightened about getting another hypo. My bloods are around 5 and having halved all my shots only now hitting 6. I wasnt working very hard and was eating plenty but my levels dropped like a stone for 48 hours now.

Just when you get a bit relaxed about it, hypos strike and give you a good kick up the ass:(

CathyMoran · 04-07-2011 3:25pm

I have bad hypos too, am trying to up my HbA1c so that I have less of them and am trying not to correct below 6 (was supposed to be 7 but I found that too hard to do). My husband is always nervous about what could happen to me, I have to test more often as my blood sugars are eratic (I had surgery which makes it hard to calculate how an identical meal will affect my blood sugars day to day.)

5live · 05-07-2011 3:04pm

CathyMoran wrote: »

I have bad hypos too, am trying to up my HbA1c so that I have less of them and am trying not to correct below 6 (was supposed to be 7 but I found that too hard to do). My husband is always nervous about what could happen to me, I have to test more often as my blood sugars are eratic (I had surgery which makes it hard to calculate how an identical meal will affect my blood sugars day to day.)

Yeah i had a small op a month ago and it took about a week for my levels to get back to normal. You would think that trying to rise sugar levels would be the easiest thing about diabetes:). And it is very stressful on the OH when you get bad hypos a lot:(. Mind yourself Cathy (and the little one too;))

CathyMoran · 06-07-2011 9:00am

Had a chinese last night, bloods went up to 11, still have the headache - is not worth it.

robinph · 06-07-2011 10:01am

You seem to run your levels way to low to be safe Cathy. Thinking of doing correction doses at the likes of 6's just seems dangerous, especially if your doing that by pen. It's possible to give 0.05 type corrections on a pump, but with pens I can't see how you could be accurate enough with the amount your dialing up if it's only in the 1 unit amounts?

CathyMoran · 06-07-2011 10:43am

robinph wrote: »

You seem to run your levels way to low to be safe Cathy. Thinking of doing correction doses at the likes of 6's just seems dangerous, especially if your doing that by pen. It's possible to give 0.05 type corrections on a pump, but with pens I can't see how you could be accurate enough with the amount your dialing up if it's only in the 1 unit amounts?

Several people have advised me to go on the pump, it just never seems to be the right time plus I do not know how it would feel to wear it at night. I have been told that I have "fragile diabetes", it is not fun for me or my husband, he is always worried that I could go into a coma. I do more blood tests but sometimes you miss lows.

robinph · 06-07-2011 11:17am

I know that it doesn't matter what I say, but wearing the pump constantly and at night is really not an issue. It is barely noticeable.

But a couple of months ago I wouldn't have believed that comment either as until you are actually on it most of what "scares" you about it is the being attached to something all the time.

If they are offering you the chance to go on a pump then take it. If it doesn't happen to work out then you can always switch back easily, but the getting on it in the first place is the more difficult step, so if it's on offer grab the opportunity as you can't loose. It might not be for you, but unless you try you'll not know.

It will give you much finer control over the basal levels and exactly how much you dose for each bolus, and the giving of an extra bolus would no longer mean another needle.

You'll still have to test a lot, but you do that anyway. I have found myself less bothered by the constant testing now than I used to be, hopefully that is something that I keep up and don't get bored of.

Pumps are great and every insulin dependent diabetic should be given the chance of one if they want.

CathyMoran · 06-07-2011 11:24am

I do know that I can not continue the way that I am, I survived it during pregnancy but diabetes has taken over my life and it should not - I would be the clasic case for the pump. I tend to move a lot in my sleep and I would be afraid that I would pull it out, I know that sounds stupid but it is one big fear.

robinph · 06-07-2011 11:40am

You won't pull it out.

It would take some serious effort to get pulled out and you'd be awake and giving whoever was doing the pulling on the tubing a slap long before that happened.

Alanstrainor · 06-07-2011 4:40pm

I have to agree it takes a fair amount of force to pull it out. i've had my pump fall from a height while connected and "yank" my set and it didnt budge an inch. It does suck having to pull off the set when you're done though! hairy legs + infusion sets = oweeeee!

Nothing to lose by giving it a go! If you have any questions at all, ask here or drop me a PM.

robinph · 06-07-2011 5:12pm

Extra sticky wipes to stop the mild reaction to the glue on the pads I was having, and makes it stick extra too.

Then some other wipes to dissolve the glue when it comes to removal and it then pretty much falls off me.

Alanstrainor · 06-07-2011 6:48pm

robinph wrote: »

Extra sticky wipes to stop the mild reaction to the glue on the pads I was having, and makes it stick extra too.

Then some other wipes to dissolve the glue when it comes to removal and it then pretty much falls off me.

Too much effort for my liking;):D:pac:

robinph · 06-07-2011 6:49pm

Went along for my regular MOT visit at the hospital this afternoon and it was mentioned about someone else who had been in to see them that morning and was doing am English Channel swim. They have a team of six people swimming for an hour each on the way across to France, but they are all insulin dependant diabetics and using a pump.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Animas-UKIreland-Relay-Channel-Swim-Event-July-2011/201679589853792?sk=info

CathyMoran · 06-07-2011 7:58pm

Have mastitis, that might explain the reason why my blood sugars were even more akward than usual. I do think that I will look into the pump, have been encouraged to get it for years. What do you do for baths? Do you take it off then? Sorry if my questions seem stupid.

eilo1 · 06-07-2011 8:04pm

Best to have a look at the videos online Cathy to get a good idea. Its hard to explain with out seeing how the pump connects. But there is no need to worry about baths or swimming etc. You simply "unclick" (for want of a better word) This is done in literally a second and you can just click it back on after. There is no need for a new set up or any hassle.

I had probably had more fears than yourself when I started thinking about the pump as I am in my twenties and still single. But honestly its just not a problem in anyway, shape or form!

Alanstrainor · 06-07-2011 8:09pm

CathyMoran wrote: »

Have mastitis, that might explain the reason why my blood sugars were even more akward than usual. I do think that I will look into the pump, have been encouraged to get it for years. What do you do for baths? Do you take it off then? Sorry if my questions seem stupid.

There are no stupid questions; only stupid answers!

You can remove the pump for up to an hour I think without issue. It really depends on what you're doing i suppose. The only issue with it is your blood sugars rising since you wont be receiving any insulin.

The pump and tubing etc has three main components. The pump, the tubing and the infusion set. The infusion set is what you inject every couple of days. No needles remain inside you, only a soft plastic "canula". The pump and the tubing will stay together until you need to replace the entire set. However, the tubing can be unclipped from the infusion set completely; as it's just clipped in with a plastic clip. (It sounds flimsy...but it's not!). Once you unclip yourself, you can just put the pump aside and take your bath or swim or whatever it may be.

When you're finished, simply clip the tubing back on and you're ready to go.

robinph · 06-07-2011 9:04pm

This is the picture of me from when they had me on saline for a week and just trying out some different infusion sets:

The thing with the blue bit on top on the left of the picture is the infusion set of the type that I'm actually now using all the time, but without the tubing connected. So that is all you are left with once you disconnect the pump, actually the blue bit is just a cover, but isn't really needed as the disconnected site on it's own is still safe and secure from anything else getting in. You'd only need the cover you were going swimming in the sea to keep sand out of the plastic clip for instance. That type of cannula I'm using is 5mm long and plastic going into you at 90degrees.

The bits on the other side of me with the tubing still connected are a 30degree steel canula, which is the lower white sticky pad. That is then connected to a short length of tube and the white pad just above on the right is just stuck on the skin surface and is the point at which you actually disconnect the tubing from. So with that type you would have a bit more gubbins still attached when you disconnect the pump. Some people prefer that type and it is allegedly more secure because if there is any pull on the pump then it's not directly on the infusion set site.

Anyway, the gist of the above is that it's really not an issue...no really it isn't.

ElBarco · 06-07-2011 9:15pm

CathyMoran - you get used to it surprisingly quickly. It only dawned on me recently that I'm using one for nearly 8 years now.

It really does help improve control (I haven't always kept in control but can't blame the pump!).

As for the disconnecting it really isnt' an issue. And I've never pulled one out. I have an 18 month old wrecking the house these days so that really is saying something.

Hal Emmerich · 06-07-2011 10:13pm

The pump itself......it clips onto your waistband/belt, yes?

Alanstrainor · 06-07-2011 10:15pm

Hal Emmerich wrote: »

The pump itself......it clips onto your waistband/belt, yes?

Mine has a clip. But i just chuck it in my pocket tbh.

ElBarco · 06-07-2011 10:28pm

Hal Emmerich wrote: »

The pump itself......it clips onto your waistband/belt, yes?

I got a clip for the pump that goes on my belt. Lasted two days before I caught it on a desk and broke it. Got another one, same thing happened the first day I used it.

Generally use the leather case that clips onto a belt. Mine has gotten a bit grotty and I've started using a phone case I found in tesco. Finding it better as there is a little pocket on it I keep a spare battery in.

[Diabetes] General Chat and Support Thread

Comments